“Do you have the willpower to make change? To get out of your comfort zone? To see where your prejudices lie? ...The reason why I was afraid of that pose, was because I was afraid. The teacher’s job is to keep showing the mirror to the students. It’s an opportunity to see. That fear that comes [in practice] is fear of the unknown.” —Mr. Manouso Manos

“The moment you start the backbends you are in the unknown world. Your body may be known, but your inner spine is unknown. You are entering the unknown world....For a yogi, backbends are meant to invert the mind, to observe and to feel, first the back, then the consciousness and the very seer. Through the practice of backbends, by using the senses of perception to look back, and drawing the mind to the back portions of the body, one day meditation comes naturally.....” —Yogācārya B.K.S. Iyengar, Interview on Backbends, 1991.